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Kaos

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Genesis Art

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Oliviero Contini

La Matta: Born to be Wild

Today we talk about one of the most discussed evergreen item in the fashion system. It’s one of the authority on the fashion world that in the last 60 years was both loved and hated by designers all over the world. The company Area98 identifies this Evergreen with its excessive and extreme collection: La Matta.

Did you discover what is it?

The Greeks called it ‘zoote’ and today it is well known with the name ‘animalier pattern’ that has always fascinated internationally renowed stylists for its excessive use and its multiple identities. The use of animal skins to warm up dates back to the primitive man and their use had also a spiritual meaning. The Egyptian used also feline furs because they had an aura of spirituality.

During the centuries, the feline fur assumed different meanings: in the Greco-Roman age, it referred to Dyonisian rituals; in the fiftheenth-century in Mary Magdalene’s iconography it alluded to her libidinal past. Between 1880 and 1900, its connotation has changed because the British Aesthetic Movement used it to realize some female items with flowing lines which released the body. For this reason, it became the emblem of the intellectual and emancipated women.

Sex symbol of the animalier trend was Betty Page who in the ‘40s embodied the provocative, sexy and predatory woman with her revealing bikini. Nevertheless, the animalier fabric lost its seductive image in 1947 when the popular stilist, Christian Dior, felt in love with it and used it in his spring/summer 1947 collection where models wearing evening dresses in animalier chiffon walked the catwalk. From that moment on, the animalier fabric enchanted also stars like Marilyn Monroe and Audrey Hepbourne with her spotted hat in the film “Sciarada” from 1963 by Givenchy.

Today, the animalier fabric is a distinctive characteristic of an other stilist, Roberto Cavalli, who launched the cheetah print in ‘70s and in 1996 for the first time; then, in 1999, he proposed the zebra print, in 2006 butterfly print till to pailettes, fish scales, crocodile , lynx or snake patterns.

In 2006, Roberto Cavalli sponsored also the exhibition Wild: Fashion Untamed held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York whose aim was to show the historical and intercultural importance of the aniamlier pattern that nowadays represents the feline femminility of a woman both predator and prey.

More and more used in all its varieties, from clothing to accessories, the animalier pattern is also adopted by the Italian Maison Area98. In its La Matta collection, Area98 wants to represent the animal instinct of the modern woman:gritty, determined and able to change skin and to get into the different roles of everyday life without ever appearing vulgar.

Hereunder, we proposed you some outfits by international stilists combined with the animalier style of some La Matta frames.

We combine it with a dark blueLa Matta frame garnished with a spotted effect characterised by some gold nuances on the front. Unique details on temples which are half-covered by the leather. Elegance at pure state.

(Mod.LMV3171.01)

For the next outfit idea we took inspiration from Burberry Prorsum.

This version is impudently romantic; a cascade of tiny hearts on a tipical animalier coat. We decided to combine it with a La Matta model likewise romantic that evokes the blue of the night on which burst the female feline instinct. Everything garnished with stones which remember the colors of the sky.

(Mod. LMV3165.02)

The last proposal of stronger impact has been taken from Donatella Versace’s fashion show.

A pop-punk style! Eccentric, excessive but in perfect combination with our La Matta model characterised by the colors of the sun: red, orange and gold for a woman who loves parading.